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Gettin' into the Blues...need bands/artists

#41
kynoch said:
wow!!!

Man have I got some homework....thanks for all those suggestions...Its gonna make for some great listening.:hyper::hyper::hyper::hyper:
Click to expand...

Here's a good source for names/albums for ya:

Blues Styles:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=73:41

Top Artists:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=73:41~T2

Top Albums:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=73:41~T3

Top Songs:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=73:41~T4

THAT oughta fill your plate for a day or two!

Blues, baby, blues!
 
#45
ebozzz said:
Good for you! Nor was there any on the music of the artists that were mentioned in the quote. I'll guarantee you there is a bass line. It's just not played on bass.....
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The OP asked for recordings with blues bass. All these recordings of solo acoustic guys won't help him much. Reminds me of part of a song: "I asked her for water, she brought me gasoline..."
 
#47
Roots:
Mississippi Fred McDowell "I Do Not Play No Rock'n Roll" Recording - not always backed by a bass but there is always a bassline and his time feeling is perfect. John Lee Hooker Natch... He is the beginning and end for blue music, also always a good challenge to play along with as he plays 10 or 11 or 12 bars on many verses.

Classic 60's and 70's stuff verging on funky:
Magic Sam Maghett "West Side Soul" and "Black Magic"
Freddie King and Albert King too.

Others:
Taj Mahal's stuff has some great bass playing too though he crosses genre all over the place - look for one of his anthologies.
 
#48
GlennW said:
The OP asked for recordings with blues bass. All these recordings of solo acoustic guys won't help him much. Reminds me of part of a song: "I asked her for water, she brought me gasoline..."
Click to expand...

He did ask for suggestions with good bass representation. I would argue that even on the solo acoustic guys, as you tagged them, bass is being represented even if it is not being played on a bass voiced instrument. Besides, IMO it's important to know where that stuff with the bass lines comes from. That certainly started with the solo acoustic guys, right?
 
#51
ebozzz said:
He did ask for suggestions with good bass representation. I would argue that even on the solo acoustic guys, as you tagged them, bass is being represented even if it is not being played on a bass voiced instrument. Besides, IMO it's important to know where that stuff with the bass lines comes from. That certainly started with the solo acoustic guys, right?
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First off, it's all good. I understand your point, and I suspect you understand mine. There's a difference between an actual bass part played by a bass and "good bass representation" as you call it. I was trying to suggest some stuff with traditional bass and/or bass guitar playing...kind of a shortcut. As far as where blues bass started, I'd have to say a piano player's left hand.

I like a lot of John Lee Hooker, but I wouldn't suggest anyone dig through the hundreds of albums (that gets expensive and time consuming) looking for cool bass parts. I would like to know who played bass on "I'm in the Mood", btw...that's great.

The solo acoustic guys (SAGs?) are fine to listen to, but I wouldn't look there FIRST for bass lines. You mentioned Son House and Charlie Patton. Their "Empire State" and "Future Blues" have similar prominent bass parts, the best examples that come to mind right now. It weird you talked about Son's "Preachin' Blues". I guess that's on the album made in the mid-60s...I was thinking about that song earlier this week.

I think the OP has more to gain bass wise from Wolf, Keith Ferguson, Duck Dunn, Larry Taylor and Jerry Jemmott.

I found this guy on YouTube a while back, I think you'll like him bass, parts and all.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X5LHs27u0y0
 
#53
GlennW said:
First off, it's all good. I understand your point, and I suspect you understand mine. There's a difference between an actual bass part played by a bass and "good bass representation" as you call it. I was trying to suggest some stuff with traditional bass and/or bass guitar playing...kind of a shortcut. As far as where blues bass started, I'd have to say a piano player's left hand.

I like a lot of John Lee Hooker, but I wouldn't suggest anyone dig through the hundreds of albums (that gets expensive and time consuming) looking for cool bass parts. I would like to know who played bass on "I'm in the Mood", btw...that's great.

The solo acoustic guys (SAGs?) are fine to listen to, but I wouldn't look there FIRST for bass lines. You mentioned Son House and Charlie Patton. Their "Empire State" and "Future Blues" have similar prominent bass parts, the best examples that come to mind right now. It weird you talked about Son's "Preachin' Blues". I guess that's on the album made in the mid-60s...I was thinking about that song earlier this week.

I think the OP has more to gain bass wise from Wolf, Keith Ferguson, Duck Dunn, Larry Taylor and Jerry Jemmott.

I found this guy on YouTube a while back, I think you'll like him bass, parts and all.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X5LHs27u0y0
Click to expand...

Glenn,

You make some very valid points and the only thing that I would disagree with is regarding the piano player's left hand statement. IMO the solo stuff on the guitar was the roots of the bass in the Blues.

It's true that the OP may find more of an immediate gain from listening to recordings with actual bassists but I think that if he can grasp those representations he will have everything that you've mentioned & more. :)

The version of Preachin' The Blues that I posted came from a Son House disc titled The Original Delta Blues. As a matter of fact, all of the tracks that I have posted can actually be listened to or downloaded just in case you haven't recognized that. My gift to thread. :D
 
#55
GlennW said:
The OP asked for recordings with blues bass. All these recordings of solo acoustic guys won't help him much. Reminds me of part of a song: "I asked her for water, she brought me gasoline..."
Click to expand...

Actually, the OP requested that we send all recommendations his way. You gotta crawl before you can walk, and you gotta start at the beginning if you wanna check out the blues.

Plus listening to bass-less blues is a wonderful way to understand what bass is supposed to bring to the music, that is, whatever your ears tell you should be played.
 
#56
Deluge Of Sound said:
Actually, the OP requested that we send all recommendations his way. You gotta crawl before you can walk, and you gotta start at the beginning if you wanna check out the blues.

Plus listening to bass-less blues is a wonderful way to understand what bass is supposed to bring to the music, that is, whatever your ears tell you should be played.
Click to expand...

:D That's it!
 
#58
This is getting funny...if you want to learn good blues bass parts what you need to do is start out listening to music without bass parts. Well, not really without...the parts are implied...imaginary...just make up something that you think would fit...

I can see doing that later on, but from my understanding in order to learn something this thing has to actually exist...that way there's something to learn.

What you're proposing is learning through making it up, but that isn't really the same as learning from something that already exists, that's learning how to make up ideas and get them to come out of your amp. That's CREATING something new, which is not the same as LEARNING something that's already been done.

Maybe if the OP just got all the blues stuff and never listened to it...he could just sit around and make up bass parts that he hopes will fit to songs that he hasn't heard.

THAT'S it.
 
#59
GlennW said:
This is getting funny...if you want to learn good blues bass parts what you need to do is start out listening to music without bass parts. Well, not really without...the parts are implied...imaginary...just make up something that you think would fit...

I can see doing that later on, but from my understanding in order to learn something this thing has to actually exist...that way there's something to learn.

What you're proposing is learning through making it up, but that isn't really the same as learning from something that already exists, that's learning how to make up ideas and get them to come out of your amp. That's CREATING something new, which is not the same as LEARNING something that's already been done.

Maybe if the OP just got all the blues stuff and never listened to it...he could just sit around and make up bass parts that he hopes will fit to songs that he hasn't heard.

THAT'S it.
Click to expand...

LOL! You just proved my point Glenn. How do you think that Willie Dixon, Jerry Jermmott and others came up with their lines. They had to have a feel for the Blues. They didn't develop that from listening to Keith Ferguson, Duck Dunn and other lines from bassists. They developed them from connecting with the music.
 
#60
GlennW said:
This is getting funny...if you want to learn good blues bass parts what you need to do is start out listening to music without bass parts. Well, not really without...the parts are implied...imaginary...just make up something that you think would fit...

I can see doing that later on, but from my understanding in order to learn something this thing has to actually exist...that way there's something to learn.

What you're proposing is learning through making it up, but that isn't really the same as learning from something that already exists, that's learning how to make up ideas and get them to come out of your amp. That's CREATING something new, which is not the same as LEARNING something that's already been done.

Maybe if the OP just got all the blues stuff and never listened to it...he could just sit around and make up bass parts that he hopes will fit to songs that he hasn't heard.

THAT'S it.
Click to expand...

While ebozzz already took a crack at this post, I'd like to defend my line of reasoning in another fashion.

playing an instrument is more than saying "I play bass, my bassline goes do-do-do (or I IV V, or whatever)." Playing an instrument in a genre, and doing it well, shows that you understand the genre as a whole. In terms of the blues, in my opinion, having this understanding can only be achieved after listening to the guys who came first, the Mississippi delta blues-men who accompanied themselves on an acoustic, and that's it. Are you telling me you couldn't follow the chords to Where Did You Sleep Last Night? Or Goodnight Irene and create your own sick bassline?
 

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